SAGINAW, MI — A Buena Vista Township man could spend decades in prison after pleading to raping a woman at gunpoint in 2011.

Kevin D. Champion Jr. appeared before Saginaw County Circuit Judge Darnell Jackson on Tuesday, July 29, and pleaded no contest as charged to seven felonies.

Champion, 21, pleaded to three counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct involving a weapon and single counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct involving a weapon, kidnapping, armed robbery and extortion.

There is no sentencing agreement other than Jackson will hand down a minimum sentence within Champion's state sentencing guidelines, officials said. The sexual assault, kidnapping and robbery charges each carry maximum penalties of life in prison.

The sentence Jackson hands down also will run concurrently with the five- to 17-year sentence Champion is currently serving for five felonies.

To connect Champion to the rape at the hearing, county Assistant Prosecutor Jennifer Barnes, showed county District Judge Kyle Higgs Tarrant state police reports that showed that a DNA sample taken from a swab Champion gave when he was placed into the state's prison system matches the stain.

Tarrant said the reports were not specific enough, explaining that she is more familiar with results that typically explain how likely it is, in terms of probability, that DNA evidence could have been left by someone other than the defendant.

Tarrant postponed the remainder of Champion's hearing to allow prosecutors to present that evidence. The testimony was not necessary because state police experts were able to test a second sample from Champion and determined that both samples matched the semen stain.

With that information, Tarrant ruled that probable cause existed for prosecutors to take Champion to trial.